Tainted
by Siiren
Summary: Avery McMillan typically remained silent whenever there was trouble among her Mystic Falls friends. Being a witch with no power rendered her completely useless, and she was okay with that. That is, until Kai Parker makes her a key component in his wicked games. Now, Avery must decide: stay loyal to her friends and destroy Kai or play the devils advocate and fight for him


**Hi! Miss me? ;) So I realize I haven't started a new story since my 2011, 51 chapter Tom Riddle fic. It was fun to write, but I haven't read any book, seen any movies or watched any television shows that gave me some inspiration until I met TVD Kai Parker. So, it is my pleasure to proudly present Tainted, a Kai Parker fanfiction. I hope you all enjoy and I encourage anyone to call me out if my math is wrong with some dates or ages or anything like that. I did my best to make sure everything was lined up properly but there are things I may have missed. Of course things may be a little different because I'm introducing a completely new character and with that comes a new story line but I did my best. Always room for improvement though! Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy!**

 **Set after Season 6 Episode 7**

Dew clung to the green grass as it reflected the golden sunlight of the early morning. Whitmore College was beginning to buzz as students crossed courtyards to make it to their first classes of the day. A young woman nodded her head to the rhythm of the music emitting from her headphones as she waited in line for her first cup of coffee. The world around her was normal, going completely according to routine as every Tuesday morning was. Her weekdays were fairly simple, and in her opinion, had been boring as of late. Wake up, go to class, work on class assignments and hang out with her friends. She wasn't completely content with the way her life had been lately, but she couldn't be disappointed either. Things had been worse for her. She caught sight of golden blond curls bouncing in her direction attached to a girl with a scowl on her face. Not out of the ordinary, but still unusual at this hour of the morning.

"Damon Salvatore rose from the dead last night." Olivia, the blonde girl, said with a yawn when she reached her friend.

"Is that so? Did Elena faint from shock?" The other girl said rolling her eyes as she wrapped her headphones up and tucked them in her pocket.

Olivia laughed, "Probably. So want to skip class today?"

"I can't, I have to go to music theory or my Professor is going to drop me from that class."

Olivia nodded her head "see ya later Avery."

The world around Kai Parker was entirely new to him. Everything seemed so loud and busy, there were so many smells and things he had never seen before. Even the air seemed different to him, somehow it was thicker and held some sort of hum he was not accustomed to. The park he was in was the same as parks had been when he was young, jungle gyms and dirty children shoving each other into the sand. He had found a young man in the grocery store who was around his height, Caucasian and had similar dark, short hair. From a distance, they could've been twins and that's what Kai needed. Now, he watched as the man sipped his coffee, read the newspaper and took phone calls, which was beginning to get very boring causing Kai to wonder if he could've found anyone more uninteresting than this sorry sap. When the man finally stood Kai waited for a minute or so and began following behind him making sure to keep his distance. This was Kai's favorite game, cat and mouse, the mouse completely unaware it was being hunted until it was too late. The man got in his car and Kai followed behind him in his own. He sang along to the music that was flowing through his headphones and took in the changing colors of the trees around him. He could appreciate the beauty of Virginia now seeing it in an ever changing fall instead of the stagnant spring he was used to. He hated spring, hated the bees and everyone celebrating that warm-ish weather had arrived. _"Why couldn't people appreciate every season? Why couldn't anyone see how beautiful it was that each season was different, with different and equally beautiful characteristics? No."_ he thought _, "No people don't like 'different' everything has to be the perfect temperature, winter is too bitter and summer is too hot. No one is fucking appreciative of different"_ Kai scoffed at his own thoughts and shook the idea from his head. _"Who cares what people think?"_

Finally, they both took a right and began driving slowly down a wooded and narrow road, completely desolate and unmoving. Kais foot pressed down on the gas, collecting speed until finally he was able to collide the front of his own car with the back of the man's red Nissan. Both cars stopped and both the young men stepped out of their cars, walking towards each other.

"Hey, man, I am so sorry," Kai began as he came closer and closer. He pulled out his headphones and began tightening each end of the cord around his hands.

"Don't worry, it isn't that bad." The man said, as he knelt down to look at the back of his car.

Kai stopped himself behind the now kneeling man, "Yeah? Wow you are really understanding." he now had a malicious grin growing on his face, "I hope you can understand that this isn't anything too personal, you're just lucky enough to have a face like mine." before the man had a chance to turn around, Kai wrapped the cord around the man's neck and began to pull backwards, cutting off all oxygen and leaving the man flailing. Once his body became limp, Kai reached into the man's pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Thank you Jake Dawson," He said as he transferred the wallet's contents into his own and threw it next to the dead body. He got back in his car and began his journey towards Whitmore College. When he arrived, it was early morning and students were beginning to get their coffees and make way to class. It wasn't difficult for him to find his little sister Olivia. He had done his research and she almost always had a scowl on her face, even as a child she seemed to be abnormally serious. That isn't what he noticed first though. It was the poufy blond curls that were cascading upon her full face, and regular look of displeasure. He watched from across the courtyard as she yanked the cafe door open. Kai followed her inside and chose a table to sit at in the far back. It looked like his sister was looking for someone as she stood on her tiptoes to see over the crowd. She began calling out a name but no one answered. Kai liked his sister and the way she didn't care that people were staring at her, or that she was disturbing the morning routines of the coffee house patrons. When she finally reached her friend, Kai stared longer than he'd like to admit. He hadn't noticed her right away as she was so small she was hidden by the crowd. Once he saw her though he couldn't understand how he had missed her. She had jet black hair which was extremely striking against her milky pale skin, but maybe it was only so striking because she was dressed head to toe in black and had thick black makeup around her eyes. What really caught his attention was the way she was nodding to her music and tuning out everyone around her. When she turned and faced Olivia he saw she was wearing a Pearl Jam shirt, and Kai allowed himself a smile because she was the first piece of evidence he had seen that not everyone in 2015 was musically stunted. Kai watched rather intently as she coolly nodded to the music, and he couldn't rip his gaze away when the man behind her became agitated and knocked into her petite form causing her to jolt forward. She had shoved the man right back and flung some vulgar words at him so he knew just how pissed off she was _. "She's so small, what is she doing picking fights? She's going to get her head handed to her."_ Kai thought, but he couldn't help but look. He wanted to see what she might do next; wanted to take in the way she pushed her hair out of her face, the way her hands moved as she ordered her cup of coffee. Everything she did made Kai think and he liked people who made him wonder. Who excited his senses and gave him something to watch.

Alright, so I'm not saying the guy in the far right of McGuire's Coffee House is staring at me, because that would mean I'm either paranoid or full of myself, and I'm neither of the two, but I'm pretty sure he's glanced in my direction more than once this afternoon.

And this asshole behind me almost knocked me over when I didn't hear the barista call out for me to place my order, "Are you seriously in that much of a rush that you're willing to knock over little girls for your caffeine fix? Fuck you."

"Watch your mouth." He retorted, and I guess I couldn't argue with that. I probably shouldn't spout such vicious language at strangers. For all I know, he could be late to the birth of his first born. I rolled my eyes and ordered my coffee but the whole time I could feel eyes burning holes into my back. Finally I turned, looked at him and he was boredly texting, fiddling with some headphones.

"Paranoid Avery, no one is looking at you. You're nobody." The little voice in my head reassured I was just fine, but then it turned on me "Yeah, nobody. Except a witch running from her coven which has been stalking her for the past five years making numerous attempts to forcibly bring her back to New York." I tried to physically shake the thought from my head as I made my way out the door and across the courtyard to Music Theory.

Music Theory wasn't a total drag but I couldn't stop thinking about what Liv said about Damon Salvatore. He had been dead for months and I couldn't help but be kind of happy that he was back. I knew Olivia couldn't care less, but I liked that whole Mystic Falls group. They were like a really messed up but tight knit family. Always helping each other and caring for one another, and they even treated me like I was part of it. Well, more like that distant cousin four times removed, but it was good enough for me. When I first arrived at Mystic Falls, Caroline was the one who took me under her wing and introduced me to all of her friends. I never became too close with Elena or Bonnie because they were those classic mean girls. The ones that whispered to each other about you and made sure you were looking. Caroline, however, didn't ever do that. At first she got on my nerves, she always wanted to know what I was doing and if I had a crush on any boys but after a while she mellowed out and she even helped me get into Whitmore. Damon and Stefan were nice too, they taught me how to drive and take shots of bourbon like it was water. Damon even got Bonnie to introduce me to Olivia so she could help me with my magic. I think maybe that's why I hold a special place in my heart for Damon, because Olivia is my beacon of light. While I've known Caroline longer Olivia was like my other half. We liked all the same things and always had the same thoughts and ideas. Even our feelings corresponded sometimes. I knew it made her brother, Lucas, jealous at times but even I knew that was a bond I could never truly come between and he knew it too. That was family that was blood. I didn't have that, but Olivia and that whole supernatural squad from Mystic Falls came pretty close. So yeah, I was excited to hear the infamous Damon Salvatore escaped death yet again, but with this I knew there would be all sorts of new drama and ridiculousness so I could understand why Olivia was less than pleased. As witches, they were probably going to call upon us and ask for our help in pretty much everything. Especially since Bonnie hasn't made her grand return yet. And I say yet because it's without a doubt she'll somehow claw her way out of the grave. She always managed to claw her way out of things and for some witch who claimed that she was all for "the balance of nature" she sure had some way of always telling nature to suck it when it came to her untimely death.

Kai shifted impatiently in the halls of Whitmore College as he stalked his latest prey. He had followed the girl from the coffee house to her classroom and now he was not so patiently waiting for her class to end. He told himself that this was his best shot to get closer to his sisters and brother, no matter how boring this chick might be. Yeah, she was cute and she definitely intrigued him, but only as a plaything and nothing more than that. Girls were dramatic and needed so much. They needed attention, honesty, commitment, loyalty. The list goes on and it was all stuff Kai knew he could never provide to a girl, but he was okay with that. He had goals, ambitions, dreams and he was more driven than anyone on the planet to get what he wanted. His family had basically conditioned him to become the monster that he was. "They should be grateful that I didn't develop something more serious" he thought, and this made him audibly laugh, "Kai, what the hell could be 'more serious' than being a sociopath? They signed their own death warrants when they treated me like nothing." Just before he could spiral out into one of his self-sabotaging internal rants against his family, that only made him upset, classrooms began to empty and he jumped to his feet, pulling out his cell phone and pretending to text. He spotted her come out of her classroom, armed with her headphones ready to take on the swell of students running around to get to wherever they were headed. Kai took off in the opposite direction making a circle around the school until he rounded the corner and BAM they collided just as he had hoped. He hadn't realized, nor did he even expect, she would still be clutching her coffee, so when they're two forms ricocheted against each other Kai was left with a large brown stain on the front of his grey t-shirt.

"I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention" Avery said, ripping out her headphones and beginning to dig through her bag for some napkins. She then looked up at the stranger and stopped digging. "You were at McGuire's this morning." she said it more like a statement rather than a question.

Kai smirked down at her and raised an eyebrow, "And?"

"So what are the odds of us being in McGuire's at the same time and then bumping into each other now?" She crossed her arms and angled her body away from his.

I've never seen this guy before, and Whitmore is not a large school so I'm sure I would've remembered a face like his. It's not the type of face you would see on the cover of a fashion magazine or plastered around cities on a billboard. It wasn't flawless and dead eyed, it was alive. His eyes danced around and told a story all of their own. The corners of his mouth curled and it seemed like someone was telling a joke only he could hear. His body stood firmly, yet the way his head tilted and shoulders remained relaxed made me think he was bored. What I wanted to know most though was why he was following me.

"Well it seems that the universe really wanted us to meet since it threw us into the same place twice in one day" He answered, and then he looked down at me, "So let me get you another cup of coffee since yours is now all over my shirt."

No way, not going on some cutesy coffee date with a total stranger that could very well be here to snatch me away and up to New York, "I think I'll pass."

He feigned being hurt by my rejection. "Ouch, you know that isn't a very good way to make friends. And if you're afraid that I'm some psycho killer who wants to kidnap you and stuff you in my trunk, we can stay on campus and in public. How's McGuire's?" It's like he read my mind. He talked with such confidence and light heartedness it made me want to say yes, so I did.

I'll admit, I was expecting to be really bored when I offered to take her to get a cup of coffee, and by the looks of her I didn't expect her to say yes. She entertained all my stories and whenever I tried to get a reaction out of her it never worked. Nothing phased this chick and it was starting to piss me off. I told her I still have a beeper; she asks if she can see it. Its 2015 why not roll your eyes like everyone else and tell me I'm a freak? I told her my parents used to lock me in a closet, all she did was one up me and talk about how her daily punishment was being put in one of those tupperware boxes with holes cut out of the top. Her parents would pour water through the holes above her face, it was pretty sick. But she didn't even act hurt by it. She acted as if this happens to every kid but she made damn sure I knew she didn't feel sorry for me.

"Shit happens to kids all the time. You can either let it break you or let it teach you," Avery said as she sipped more of her coffee, "I don't see any point in dwelling on it. What's done, is done."

"You never get the urge to like, make your family pay?" I ask. I think this might be the first time I've ever asked a question and been interested in the response. Avery shook her head, and I guess when she saw the look of confusion on my face she decided to elaborate.

"I don't see the point because going back there will never make me feel better. Revenge won't make the hurt go away, but allowing the pain in and learning from it is what will make things better. In a way, I'm glad my parents were such dicks because I like the way I turned out. I like who I am." She shrugged her shoulders and this time she giggled at the look on my face.

"Liking yourself is the most important thing." I half spoke to her and half to myself. I've always thought that, it's basically my mantra. Hearing someone else say it though gave me some sort of validation which I had never really felt before. I needed to turn the conversation around immediately, this was getting way too sappy and it was making my stomach turn. No way am I about to start cozying up to my little sister's friend. What is that? What am I doing? "So, any plans for tonight?"


End file.
